Medical and Military History in South Africa (FULL)
About the tour
South Africa is a spectacularly beautiful country. This study tour, led by Paul Luckin, shows you the many faces of this beautiful and diverse land while giving you fascinating insight into its overlapping medical, military and cultural histories. Travel from Johannesburg into Mpumalanga safari country and take game drives in the Kruger National Park.
Continue into the Kwa Zulu Natal with its rich culture and plethora of bird and animal life before continuing to stunning and culturally distinct Zululand. Continue to Durban and explore the battlefields of the Anglo-Zulu War and end in the cosmopolitan harbour city of Cape Town, from where you will explore the Cape and Stellenbosch. Your journey is punctuated with regular professional visits and talks and provides deep insight into the military and medical history and cultures of South Africa.
There is also an optional pre tour extension to beautiful Victoria Falls.
Download our brochure Medical and Military History in South Africa
Your tour leader
Dr Paul Luckin
Dr Paul Luckin AM MB.BCh.(Rand.), D.A.(S.A.), F.F.A.(S.A.), M.MED.ANAESTHESIA (Natal), FANZCA is an anaesthetist in Brisbane. He started training in rescue as an ambulance paramedic in Tasmania before studying medicine in South Africa, where he spent 8 years in a Mountain Rescue Team. Paul served on the Tasmanian Ambulance Service Medical Advisory Council, was Director of the Advanced Airway Management Training Program and was President of Royal Life Saving Society Tasmania Branch.
Paul teaches Search and Rescue at the state and national level and is on the directing staff of the National Police Search and Rescue Managers Course. He provides advice on survivability during Search and Rescue operations to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and Police Search and Rescue teams across the nation, in PNG and the Solomon Islands.
As a Captain in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, Paul has served in Bougainville, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, in the Resuscitation and Retrieval Team for the victims of the Bali bombs, in the first medical team into Banda Aceh following the tsunami, and in Afghanistan. He is Medical Director, Medical Services Branch, St John Ambulance Queensland, and has been invested as a Commander of the Order of St John (CStJ). For his work in SAR, in 2006 Paul received the Australian National Search & Rescue Award, and in 2015 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia, AM, for significant service to the community through emergency medicine, and as an authority on survivability in search and rescue operations.
Need more information?
- Tel: (Toll Free) 1-8777-398-764
- Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm
Itinerary at a glance
- 16 Jan (Tue) Johannesburg: Arrive Johannesburg and transfer to the Garden Court Hotel. Visit the Apartheid Museum and enjoy dinner at the hotel in the evening
- 17 Jan (Wed) Johannesburg: Sightseeing tour of Soweto including the Baragwanath Taxi Rank, Freedom Square and Nelson Mandela’s former home. Lunch at a shebeen. Visit Baragwanath Hospital. Talk: "Life under the Nationalist Government during Apartheid"
- 18 Jan (Thurs) Johannesburg / Timbavati: Visit the Adler Medical Museum in the Medical School of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. Drive into Mpumalanga safari country. Talk on bus: “History of the Kruger National Park”. Arrive and at leisure
- 19 Jan (Fri) Timbavati: Set out before sunrise in open top safari vehicles with qualified game rangers to view the “big five” on a game drive. Bush lunch and return to the lodge in the early evening
- 20 Jan (Sat) Timbavati: Full day to explore the stunning Panorama Route including God’s Window, Bourke’s Luck Potholes, the Blyde River Canyon, the Three Rondavels and the historic gold rush town of Pilgrims Rest. Boma dinner under the stars
- 21 Jan (Sun) Timbavati / Mlilwane, Swaziland: Drive into the Royal Kingdom of Swaziland. Arrive in the National Park at Milwane and overnight in traditional Swazi ‘beehive’ round huts. Dinner at Hippo Haunt
- 22 Jan (Mon) Mlilwane, Swaziland: At leisure. Optional walks, birdwatching, bike trails or cultural excursions. Late afternoon to sunset game drive in open top safari vehicles with qualified game rangers to see the distinctive game of National Park at Milwane. Talk: “Mountain Rescue in the Drakensburg”
- 23 Jan (Tue) Swaziland / Ladysmith: Optional early morning bird watching. Talk on bus: “The Boer War – causes and consequences”. Stop at the historical town of Piet Retief. Drive to into Zululand and continue to the town of Ladysmith and the Battlefields Country Lodge
- 24 Jan (Wed) Ladysmith: Full day touring the battlefields with a local historian. Visit Isandlwana. Talk: “Battlefield Medicine of the Zulu Wars”. Visit Rorke’s Drift. Talk: “The Zulu Wars”.
- 25 Jan (Thurs) Ladysmith / Durban: Visit the Siege Museum. Drive to Durban to fly to Cape Town. Dinner on the V&A Waterfront
- 26 Jan (Fri) Cape Town: City tour of Cape Town. Continue to Groote Schuur Hospital for an escorted tour of the Heart of Cape Town Museum with Dr Peter Gord. Visit Robben Island on a tour with an ex political prisoner
- 27 Jan (Sat) Cape Town: Visit Table Mountain (by cable car or on foot). Continue onto Cape Point and the Peninsula. Take in the beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay and across to Houts Bay where you may cruise to Seal Island. Drive to the Cape of Good Hope nature reserve via Chapman’s Peak. Take a funicular to the top of the Peninsula where the Indian Ocean and Atlantic meet. Later visit the Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach. Dinner at Beluga’s
- 28 Jan (Sun) Cape Town: Visit Stellenbosch and take part in chocolate and wine tasting at the Lanzerac Wine Estate. Lunch and wine tasting at the Fairview Wine Estate followed by cheese and wine tasting.Dinner at Gold restaurant
- 29 Jan (Mon) Cape Town: Transfer to airport for departure
Tour cost
Ground only: $4,320 per person sharing